{"id":501712,"date":"2026-03-03T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/501712\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T18:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:35:09","slug":"signs-of-weakness-from-the-parti-quebecois-have-opponents-circling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/501712\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of weakness from the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois have opponents circling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard in downtown Montreal.Nasuna Stuart-Ulin\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Charles Milliard says he\u2019s ready to be Captain Canada. Or, as he puts it, \u201cCaptain Quebec<\/a> within Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quebec\u2019s new Liberal leader is auditioning for two roles at once. If his party loses this year\u2019s provincial election to the sovereigntist Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, he could soon be leading the campaign for Canadian unity in a third referendum on independence. <\/p>\n

But Mr. Milliard would prefer to avoid all that. The part he really wants is the province\u2019s top job.<\/p>\n

The Quebec Liberals have a steep hill to climb, with just months to go until an election the PQ has seemed set to win. Still, chinks are starting to appear in the armour of PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, especially after he cast doubt last week on the timing of a referendum he has promised to hold by 2030 should his party win the election. As new challengers emerge in Quebec\u2019s volatile political landscape, the question now is whether anyone has what it takes to beat him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know the stakes are high. I know I\u2019m coming into the game in the playoffs,\u201d said Mr. Milliard in an interview late last month. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s entirely achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konrad Yakabuski: As an election approaches, the PQ begins to soft pedal its referendum plans<\/a><\/p>\n

After leading in the polls for more than two years, the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is selling itself as a government-in-waiting ahead of the election scheduled for October. Last week , the party won a fourth straight by-election, easily flipping a riding in Quebec\u2019s Saguenay region from the governing Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec, whose popularity has collapsed. <\/p>\n

The result was unsurprising \u2013 the PQ had held the riding for decades before the CAQ formed government in 2018. But Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s comments after the victory turned heads. He said he understands some voters \u201care genuinely afraid\u201d of a referendum in the current geopolitical context, and suggested his government could wait to hold a vote until after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois will use intelligence and judgment in choosing the right moment for all decisions because our priority will always be to protect Quebeckers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

His opponents pounced, accusing him of backing down on his commitment to a referendum most Quebeckers don\u2019t want. Mr. Milliard called it a \u201cpolitical pirouette.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon is still promising a referendum within four years. But his softer tone, combined with a new poll showing a narrowed gap between the PQ and the second-place Liberals, suggest some measure of vulnerability. <\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois stays course on referendum despite Carney\u2019s call for unity<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s trying to muddy the waters,\u201d said Christine Fr\u00e9chette, a CAQ caucus member and leadership candidate in the race to replace Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault, who announced his resignation in January. \u201cHe\u2019s hoping semantics will make this an easier pill to swallow.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Milliard, who was acclaimed as leader last month after Pablo Rodriguez resigned amid a campaign-financing scandal, says he wants to talk about \u201cbread-and-butter\u201d issues that get ignored amid the focus on sovereignty. <\/p>\n

At 46, the Liberal leader has never held elected office. A trained pharmacist and the former head of Quebec\u2019s federation of chambers of commerce, he calls himself both a federalist and a nationalist. <\/p>\n

Last week, a Pallas Data poll found support for the PQ had dropped to 30 per cent, while the Liberals under Mr. Milliard had climbed to 27 per cent. It also found 60 per cent of respondents said they would vote \u201cno\u201d in a referendum, a jump of six points compared to the firm\u2019s previous survey. (The poll surveyed 1,075 adults on Feb. 21 and 22, and has a margin of error of plus or minus three points, 19 times out of 20.) <\/p>\n

Philippe J. Fournier, founder of poll aggregator Qc125.com, said the results suggest people are paying more attention as the question of a referendum becomes \u201cless and less hypothetical.\u201d<\/p>\n

PQ Leader says \u2018battle of ideas\u2019 has begun, garnering support for independence<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, he cautioned that the three-point gap belies the fact that the Liberals are still trailing by 19 points among francophones. \u201cYou don\u2019t win an election in Quebec on those numbers,\u201d said Mr. Fournier, who commissioned the poll. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ms. Fr\u00e9chette is hoping the CAQ leadership race will inject new life into her moribund party. In an interview, she said Quebeckers want a government focused both on the economy and Quebec nationalism. <\/p>\n

\u201cVoting for the Liberals is like voting for the federal government\u2019s little brother,\u201d she said. (Mr. Milliard calls her an \u201caspiring captain of the Titanic.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Ms. Fr\u00e9chette appears to have a strong lead on her opponent, Bernard Drainville. Both are former ministers in Mr. Legault\u2019s government, but Mr. Drainville is more closely linked to the CAQ\u2019s identity policies, including tighter rules on secularism. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve led some pretty polarizing battles,\u201d Mr. Drainville said in an interview last month. \u201cSometimes I think I may come across as a bit harsh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new leader, to be chosen in April, may find it difficult to restore Quebeckers\u2019 faith in a nearly eight-year-old government. Current polling suggests the CAQ could be eclipsed even by the Conservative Party of Quebec, which finished second in the most recent by-election. <\/p>\n

The Conservatives, led by former shock-jock \u00c9ric Duhaime, currently hold no seats in the provincial legislature but are in a good position to win ridings around Quebec City, Mr. Fournier said. <\/p>\n

For now, the election remains the PQ\u2019s to lose. And in an unusual move for someone hoping to be premier, Mr. Milliard speaks openly about the possibility of finishing second, and the referendum that could follow. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf that happens, of course I will take the helm and bring our side to victory,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Canada is the best deal in town for Quebec.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard in downtown Montreal.Nasuna Stuart-Ulin\/The Globe and Mail Charles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[2428,2416,2429,4,2408,2430,103,2407,2422,2423,2418,2409,2406,101,526,192,2421,2414,2441,2410,2411,2420,2417,149,983,2431,2413,2436,2437,2439,2434,2438,2432,2435,2412,2425,2426,111,2424,2433,79,2415,74,2427,2419,194,965,2440],"class_list":["post-501712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}